Freight Forwarders provide a logistics service for the shipper, and arrange shipment through a Carrier. Forwarders do not need to own any vessel. They sign the contract of carriage with the shippers and then they find actual carriers to perform the transportation.
It is, however, possible for a freight forwarder to act as a carrier when it assumes liability either as a contractual or actual carrier.
Carriers transports goods from the port of loading to the port of discharge under their own or chartered vessels.
The main distinction between the two capacities is that under the forwarder arranges transport on third party transport, and the carrier uses its own transport.
Haulers, on the other hand, are a commercial establishment or workers whose business is transporting cargo in a vehicle. The word may also refer to the automotive vehicles used for hauling goods or material.
